National Defense College – Abu Dhabi

The National Defense College of the United Arab Emirates (NDC) was created, pursuant to Federal Law Decree No. (1) of 2012, to establish in the nation’s capital a leading graduate institute for Strategic and Security Studies.

NDC, through its Strategic Security Studies Program, prepares future leaders of the highest caliber. The program fosters in students the intellectual breadth, global perspective and critical reflection that is needed to prepare them to identify and assess challenges to national, regional and international security and skilfully manage and employ state resources in the national interest.

Graduates emerge with an enhanced ability to assess complex situations, challenge assumptions, identify pertinent contextual factors, formulate and consider a variety of strategic approaches, conceptualize the strategic implications of those actions, and calculate the costs, risks, and consequences of such strategic choices.

The National Defense College seeks to improve students’ ability to think critically and strategically and to apply practical knowledge in collaborative ways and in complex circumstances with diverse partners; to analyze how domestic, national, transnational and international factors shape strategy; to understand the relationship between political objectives, strategy, and the use of instruments of national power (e.g. diplomatic, military, economic, information – including cyber) to resource strategy in peace, crisis and war; to develop appropriate strategies and crisis-management responses; and, to examine how strategic leaders shape and implement policy and strategy.